The Wrong Guy at the Wrong Time
by DR. COFFIN
Summary: What Warren was doing while Will and Layla were making new friends in The Kids Are All Right.Hint: it involves the mystery villain who freed Speed and Lash, and he finds out you won't like Warren when he's hungry.


**The Wrong Guy at the Wrong Time**

Warren stepped out into the night, enjoying the rush of cool air after being in the hot kitchen all evening. Just because he could generate heat and fire himself didn't mean he liked to be hot all the time. He was carrying a large sack filled with leftovers he was looking forward to swiftly devouring once he got home, as he was having one of his metabolic surges that had plagued him since he turned ten and his powers first manifested. Mom referred to these as his "growth spurts" and he usually did shoot up a couple of inches and gain about ten pounds at a time. These spurts were caused by his genes, as his dad was a huge man, and were tied into his fire powers as well. This was also why everybody thought he was older than he was. He was not really looking forward to this, because this meant he did two things; eat like a pig and sleep like a hibernating bear for about a month. They had usually hit during the summer, so it wasn't so bad, but now with school starting up and Warren having a job, it was going to be a major pain to stay awake in class, and the last thing he needed was to have to start repeating classes again, especially since this should have been his junior year.

He was about halfway home when he got the feeling that something was wrong. Something was following him. Well, whoever or whatever it was in for a bad surprise if they tried anything funny. He decided to alter his route as he didn't want to chance that his stalker didn't know where he lived and accidentally lead them there. It wasn't that Mom couldn't already take care of herself, but the last thing she needed after their visit with Dad a couple of weeks ago was possibly one of his Brotherhood of Darkness buddies showing up to cause trouble.

He decided to head to the docks, as he knew the area well and it would be a great place to turn the tables on his pursuer. As he was heading there he caught a glimpse of something sparking out of the corner of his eye, and wondered if it was a robot of some kind. Well, he'd find out soon enough.

Once at the docks Warren quietly and swiftly moved through the maze of warehouses, doubling back and circling around until he knew he was behind who ever or whatever was following him.

He stepped around the corner and saw a towering round metallic form about twenty feet tall with arcs of electricity for arms and legs that connected to robot-looking feet and hands. Whatever this thing was, it wasn't anything he'd ever seen or heard about before in his classes or from his mom. It was probably some new model one of about a dozen mad scientists lurking about had concocted to fight some hero and it had locked onto him for some reason. It was standing at the entrance of the alley Warren had ducked down and was unable to fit through itself.

"Aha!" yelled the robot in a funny sounding voice. It started to spin around to face Warren. "Thought you could sneak up on me did you, Lavagirl?"

The robot's front consisted of a large round television screen on which was projected a human face with a smug expression, but it quickly changed to one of surprise when it saw a tall young man whose long black hair had a bright red streak on the right side and who was dressed in a black leather jacket, dark t-shirt, blue jeans and heavy boots. In one arm he held a plastic bag filled to bursting with styrofoam containers, while his free hand was clenched in a fist that seemed to be glowing.

"Dude," said Warren, "do I LOOK like ANY girl?"

"Oh, I'm sorry," said the robot as it held up a device in its right metallic claw, "this stupid detector was locked onto an extremely high body temperature reading and I though it was the person I was looking for."

"And you're looking for this girl because..."

"Not that it's your business, but I'm looking to capture her and her fishy boyfriend and take them back to my world for...disposal."

"Disposal? Let's see, you stalk me halfway across town, then say you're actually after some girl and boy so you can kidnap and "dispose" of them? You just MADE it my business."

"Oooo, look at me shake," sneered the robot, "and "watt" are you going to do to Mr. Electric, Goth boy? Especially after THIS!"

Mr. Electric, as the robot called itself, then hit Warren with a bolt of electricity that sent him flying to slam into another building with terrific impact. To its surprise it saw Warren get up without looking at all fazed by what had happened. At least until he first smelled and then saw that the bolt had destroyed the bag and both burned and spilled his entire dinner.

"Do you know that NOBODY in town can make orange chicken like Mrs. Ling? This is the first time in weeks there was any left, and now..." Warren was getting madder by the second, and Mr. Electric's heat detector went off the scale and exploded as Warren's hands burst into raging red flames.

"Now I can't get any more until who knows when." Warren's eyes were glowing red.

"Uh," said Mr. Electric as the situation was getting more intense by the second, "would it help if I said "sorry"?"

"You WILL BE," snarled Warren. Then all hell broke loose as twin gouts of flame exploded from Warren's hands and engulfed Mr. Electric, shocking the robot for an instant before it recovered.

"Not bad," sneered Mr. Electric, "but I've taken hits from Lavagirl and been hurt worse."

"Then I guess I'll try harder," replied Warren, and he let his emotions totally take over. Screaming in rage, he began hurling fireball after fireball at Mr. Electric, driving it up against the alley entrance until he was sure the robot couldn't back any further, then the fireballs began slamming into the walls of the two buildings until with a groan the shattered brick and concrete rained down then buried the mechanical menace under tons of rubble.

Warren glared at the smoking mound, knowing it probably wasn't the end for the mechanical jerk, but he already had an idea that would. He started heading for the docks as he heard the rubble shifting and the battered but still moving villain rose up out of pile of debris, madder than ever.

"Now," snarled Mr. Electric, "it's time for YOU to feel the megahertz, pretty boy!"

"Who programmed this jerk?" thought Warren as he rolled his eyes at the bad pun. He had gotten to the water as he heard Mr. Electric take to the air with some kind of rockets in its feet, and saw as it swooped down at him from the night sky. Bolts of electricity shot down around him, but Warren ducked and dodged as he wanted the dock weakened around him. He wanted Mr. Electric to land so that he could get him into the water that would probably wreck havoc with its system.

Mr. Electric did indeed land, and the dock groaned under his massive weight as he scowled at Warren.

"Let me guess," he sneered, "you thought you could dunk me into the water and that would take me out? Sorry, but I'm water proof."

"Maybe so," thought Warren, "but there are other ways to beat a computer." He noted that Mr. Electric was covered with grit and dirt that had to be messing up any cooling system the robot had. His next stunt should do the trick. He then blasted the dock under Mr. Electric, and it burst into flames, surrounding and engulfing the creature. He then continued barraging it with fireballs, keeping it off-balance and in no time Mr. Electric was glowing cherry red from the heat. When he thought that it was time, Warren hurled his largest fireball into the dock right at Mr. Electric's feet, and the impact destroyed the already weakened dock so with a creaking roar it collapsed into the water, taking the bellowing robot with it.

There was a tremendous crash and an explosion of steam as Mr. Electric's red-hot body hit the ice-cold water of the bay. Cracks began forming on the spherical shape and the television screen face was littered with spider web-like lines.

Sparks and arcs of electricity began playing across the twitching form, and the connection between the body and its limbs was severed as they sank. Warren then leaped and landed on the large floating sphere to glare back at the pain-wracked face displayed on the screen.

"I don't know where you came from," said Warren as he drew back a flaming fist, "but consider yourself recycled."

Warren then punched the screen with all his strength, shattering it completely as a final squeal of exploding circuits came from the destroyed automaton. He left his burning fist deep in the machinery for another few moments just to be sure, then withdrew it and dove into the water as the lifeless husk sank.

Warren easily swam to shore and once out of the water there was a cloud of steam surrounding him before he again burst into flames, drying himself off and driving away the chill of the bay. He paused a moment to look back at where Mr. Electric had sank, and again wondered who had built it why it was after the ones it mentioned. Dried off completely off, Warren began navigating through the maze of warehouses and was out to the street when he heard a familiar voice and saw Will and Layla headed in the same direction with a pair of costumed kids, a boy and a girl.

"What's up Warren," said Will as they saw their friend approaching, "you look like you've had a bad night,"

"I'll tell you in a second, Stronghold," said Warren as he looked over the two costumed kids. The boy was dressed in gray and black, and had claws and a mouth full of sharp teeth plus a shark like fin on his back. The girl had glowing pink hair and wore a pink and red costume. Warren could feel the heat coming off her, even though it didn't affect him.

"Who are these two? I didn't know it was Halloween tonight."

"We're super heroes," said the boy, walking up to him and looking like he wanted to fight.

"Yeah?" answered Warren, finding himself liking the boy's attitude for some reason. He then looked over to Layla. "I didn't know you or Stronghold had a little brother and sister,"

"Actually," smiled Will, "with her powers and his attitude, we thought they were yours."

That startled Warren, and he instantly put two and two together.

"Is your name Lavagirl?" he asked the pink haired girl.

"Yes," she smiled back, "and that's my friend Sharkboy. We're from...we're new in town."

"A girl and her fishy boyfriend," Warren said out loud, remembering Mr. Electric's words.

"What did you call me?" snarled Sharkboy, taking a step closer.

"Easy "Jaws"," smiled Warren, "I was just remembering something I heard a little while ago. Do you kids know a big robot looking freak with electric arms and legs?"

"Yes," chimed in Lavagirl, "he's from...he's an enemy of ours. Is he around here?"

"Yeah," answered Warren, "he's back there in the bay, but I don't think you'll have to worry about him again."

"You mean..."

"He decided to pick a fight with the wrong guy at the wrong time."

"Oh thank you," cried Lavagirl, who ran over and wrapped her arms around Warren's waist and hugged him with tremendous strength, taking the wind out of him.

"Oh no," she cried as she released him, "I didn't burn you, did I?"

"Don't worry," said Warren, "I generate fire too. I'm immune to heat."

With that Lavagirl once again grabbed Warren and began hugging him, but not using her full strength this time. Warren didn't know what to do until Sharkboy spoke up.

"She's never been able to touch anyone without burning them before," he said with a sad look on his face, "she's a little starved for physical contact."

"That's okay little lady," smiled Warren as he began stroking her pink hair that sizzled from the contact, "you just take your time."

He then noticed the way Will and Layla were both looking at him.

"What?" Warren asked.

"You're going to totally blow your tough guy image," smiled Will.

Warren simply shrugged, and hoped Lavagirl would eventually let him go before she broke his ribs.


End file.
